What do I need to do?

When you have an article or conference paper accepted for publication make sure you deposit it in the research information system straight away. It must be the peer reviewed version with the text basically as it will appear in the journal but without the publisher formatting (unless you have paid an article processing charge to the publisher).

You will need to check that your publisher allows you to do this and whether they require an embargo period. Sherpa Romeo allows you to do this.

Open Access FAQ

The policy covers journal articles and conference papers which are in a publication with an ISSN. No other type of material is required but HEFCW is keen to see universities make as much as possible open access and universities will get credit for going beyond the requirements.

It is not usually necessary to pay. Most publishers allow the deposit of an accepted manuscript or postscript in an institutional repository, often with an embargo period. In some cases where you have funding you can pay the publisher to make your paper freely available straight away (gold open access). At Swansea we have central money available if you are RCUK funded which you can apply for via our APC page.

In the majority of cases you should be able to use your usual journals. HEFCW / HEFCE say that their aim is not to dictate where people can publish and there are some cases where exceptions to the open access policy are allowed (see section 37 of the open access policy). However, you should make sure you are aware of a publisher's policies before you choose a journal. In a small number of cases it might be advisable to change.

If you are required to add a data statement to your paper you could include information in this format:

My paper contains data which are openly available

All research data supporting this publication are available within this publication.

Additional research data supporting this publication are available from [insert repository name] repository via [insert DOI].

My paper does not refer to underlying research data

All data underlying this study are cited in the references.

It is not possible to make my research data openly available

Due to ethical concerns, supporting data cannot be made openly available. Further information about the data and conditions for access are available from [insert repository name] repository via [insert DOI].

These set out how a piece of work can be used. There are various different types allowing for reuse, modification, commercial use etc. If you want to apply one to your research it can avoid people having to contact you for permission to use it. The creative commons web site has more information.

Publishing models for books are complex and at the moment there is no requirement to make books open access. A lot of innovation is starting in this area though. You can read more on this post from our blog. If you would like to make a chapter from your book available you are welcome to put it in RIS/Cronfa if your publisher allows this.